Belle
& Sacha...
The
first kitten I acquired was in 1985, in the spring.
I read the newspaper often, as I am always looking
for antiques. I just happened to stumble upon
an advertisement offering "bigfoot Manx kittens".
I called up the owner immediately, as I had once
had a bigfoot kitten when I was younger, and was
definitely interested in getting another one.
My husband took me out to the woman's home, which
was located off the Mount Baker Highway. Her name
was Donna Sofie, and I still see her from time
to time even today. She showed me a wonderful
litter of 5 kittens, born from a short tailed
classic tabby patterned mother who also happened
to be polydactyl. They were gorgeous, all of them
a reddish brown spotted tabbies, with some of
them having white on their feet. I fell in love
with one male, all polydactyl also having a short
tail. He had a fabulous, and even larger sister,
and she had no white on her, but I thought that
the white on the poly feet feet made them look
even larger than the 6 toes on every foot already
made them look, so I chose him. I asked Donna
who the father was. She said that her was outside.
I couldn't believe it..."You let your boy run
outside?! Isn't he going to get killed out there
with so many wild animals, cars and what-have-you!"
She insisted that he was not in any danger, as
far as she was concerned and that we would not
get to see him even if she called for him, as
I had asked her to. Well, I continued to ask her
if we couldn't at least try to call him, and after
a bit she finally said, "I don't know who the
father is exactly, but Belle got out of the house
and we heard her fighting with something in the
barn and think that it was a bobcat. She was hurt,
we brought her in and two months later she had
these babies." "Nice story, lady," I thought to
myself, "but I'll take the kitten anyway.". I
truly didn't believe a word of it. She charged
me $75.00, the only cat in the early program that
I ever paid for. I named him Sasha and he was
a wonderful, unusual and even a quite strange
fellow as he grew up. That summer we went back
to Alaska, to the remote islands of the Southeast,
to work for the Forest Service, camping as we
always did. The work was so good, that we decided
to stay until Christmas. We made our own shelter,
and lived with the wolves and the bears as our
neighbors. Nightly, the wolves would surround
our little home, made of logs and visquene, and
they would sing the same song, with each wolf
singing a different part, all night long. So this
is how Sasha was raised, running free, as it were,
in the wilds of Alaska with our family. When Christmas
came near and we began to pack up to leave, Sasha
was no where to be found. We had a plane to catch
into the nearest town, and the weather was perfect
for the flight. We HAD to make that flight because
we were to catch the next ferry out of town in
order to make it home before Christmas. Sasha
refused to show his face, (I knew he did it on
purpose!), so in tears, I left with my family,
to head south for the Holidays. I asked some people
we knew in the nearby logging camp if they would
keep an eye out for him but never thought they
would. I was worried sick that with no shelter,
he was going to be eaten by the wolves. When we
arrived into Bellingham, I called the people in
the logging camp, to see if anyone had found him
and indeed the husband had gone out and found
the little stinker. They shipped him by plane
into Ketchikan, where a good friend there picked
him up to ship him to Seattle. After weeks of
fog that wouldn't go away, we finally got our
boy back! Oh, I was so mad at him and so happy
to see him at the same time! But if he had been
a semi-wild creature before, he was definitely
more wild than ever before now! Sasha was very
difficult to keep in the house. He did everything
he could to slip through to the outside, but he
couldn't get past me. He was elusive and not a
loving cat in the least! He would skirt around
the house, hunkering down low, and never seen
by company.. He was not what I considered to be
a family cat, that was for sure. I began to wonder
about the story that came with him.
Keba...
Then
one day, in the winter of 1985-86, I was again
reading the paper when I saw an ad regarding a
found cat on Mt. Baker. He was a large, short
tailed male, and the people who found him were
asking the owners to come get him. The ad ran
for about 3 weeks. Finally, I couldn't stand it.
I called up the people who ran the ad and asked
if the cat's owners had come to pick him up. No,
they hadn't, I was told, so I said that we would
be right up to get him. You see, I had previously
been a home to take in extras from the Alternative
Humane Society, and had done volunteer work in
the Ketchikan Humane Society, so I was not willing
to have a large, beautiful, short tailed boy sent
to the Humane Society and be put to sleep. When
we got there, I was surprised at the appearance
to the cat. He was not at all what I expected
him to look like. As we drove I thought he would
be a somewhat fat(large), average bodied, short
tailed Manx looking type cat. He was none of that.
Rather, he was very leggy, with his back standing
to my knees. He had a longer, half-length tail,
with a knot on the end of it, and was very heavy,
in spite of being starved in appearance. The man
who gave him to us was a struggling rock musician
by the name of Todd Smallwood who has since made
it in Hollywood recording scores for movies. He
still owns the property, but the tiny cabin has
been turned into a recording studio and a new,
enormous and gorgeous home sits on the hill. Bill
and I went to see him a a couple of years ago
to tell him what had happened with that cat and
how , inadvertently, he had played a part in the
origination of the pixiebob. So we took the big
cat that day, and immediately went to show him
off to Mom. She flipped out completely. "You aren't
going to take that cat home! He might hurt the
children!" I hate it when she's right, but she
sure was. We didn't know the brute from Adam,
and decided to take her up on her offer to keep
him. She fell in love with his looks as did we.
She named him Keba, and he ruled the neighborhood
for several years, scrapping just like a bobcat.
On an interesting note, he was weighed in at 17
pounds in an emaciated condition.
Keba
and Maggie's first children: Pixie...
Then
Providence shined on me and in April of 1986,
something wonderful happened, and I thank God
for it nearly every day. I was over visiting with
Mom when there was a knock on the door. The neighbor
from across the street was standing there and
did not look happy, no, not one bit. She complained
that our male had come over and bred her female
and now she had a litter of kittens that she did
not want. Feeling guilty for not neutering him,
I sheepishly agreed to come get the kittens. But
when I went over to the house, and saw the mother,
my mouth dropped open! "What kind of cat IS she?"
The neighbor explained that they had had her for
several years, that she had come from a barn in
the Everson area (just north and east of Bellingham),
and that she was supposed to be part bobcat. I
really didn't have to ask the question I did,
it was just that I didn't expect something that
wild looking to be in a home...it was just so
out of place. I could hear her husband in the
next room muttering and cursing about the cats
and so I asked her if she would be willing to
let go of the mother with the babies. She tearfully
said yes. I couldn't believe my good fortune!
Now this really LOOKED like a part bobcat, and
there were 3 wonderful kittens with her, children
of Keba, no less! I was enamored with the group,
especially the long tailed female kitten. She
had a very unusual face, unlike I had ever seen
in a cat before, she seemed almost ethereal! I
place the two boys, both with stumpy tails, in
loving homes, and being in love with the little
girl's face, I kept her and called her Pixie.
Maggie
and Sasha's only litter: Battu & Petey
In
the few months that I had Maggie, I was able to
breed her to Sasha, and she produced a litter
in September, 1986, from which I kept one male
and one female. I named them Battu and Petey.
So they were half siblings of Pixie.
Then
Sasha, shortly after he bred Maggie, left us for
good; he got out of the house, and never looked
back. We never saw him again.
So
we kept
Pixie, Petey, and Battu, and we still have
a few pictures of them as kittens. Petey and Battu
were both naturally short tailed cats, both of
them having a very wild face, extra toes(from
dad Sasha) and a wild attitude. Petey, especially,
we couldn't even touch, she would have to come
to you, and anytime she did, we felt very special.
She was very ghostlike, indeed. You could never
find her or hold her when you did. But her nature,
although shy, was very sweet. She ended up living
with my parents for most of her life, Because
she was so shy and took to my step-dad so well.
Petey's
kittens: StoneIsland's Black Bart & Sasquatch
But
we were able to breed her occasionally and today,
her only descendants in the program are Stone
Island's Black Bart and Sasquatch.
By
this time, I knew that there was indeed something
special about the 3 cats and knew that I couldn't
live without Pixie's
incredible face! Plans were starting to swirl
in my head!
Pixie
and Battu's kitten: Monster
Having
gone back to Alaska once more, we then moved south
in March 1987 for the last time, settling in Bellingham.
When Pixie
was breeding age, she was bred to the only male
I had, her half-brother Battu. She produced a
single fabulous polydactyl kitten in the summer
of 1987 that I ignorantly sold. Then I bred her
again, and this time she produced a kitten that,
although I sold, I also later bought back, and
her name was Monster.
Monster
and Jamaïca (black manx)'s kitten: Amy
She
became the mother of the famous Stone Island's
Amy.
And now
Amy is the mother of Stone Island's Monster
II, whom I still have.
Jamaïca
(black manx) & Pixie's daughters:
Lucy,
Lioness, Bobby-Jo
But
Battu was let out and killed on the highway and
suddenly, I had no male to breed with Pixie. I
looked all around and couldn't find anything with
bobcat heritage(when you need it, it's never there!),
so I purchased a Manx for $50.00 and bred him
to Pixie four times. These matings produced Stone
Island's Lucy, Lioness,
and Bobby-Jo.
These three sisters were the foundation of the
next generations, along with Monster, the cats
that furthered the breed, because it was when
we bred these lovely Pixie daughters with Samson,
that we got the kittens that would be the perfect
type that I was looking for... as the goal was
"to produce a 1000 more like her"!
Samson
and his mother Tibbins
Being
Samson's
mother, Tibbins
was already added to the program, having been
a cat that had moved into our old house, where
Sasha had run away. Was acquired her because she
had produced a litter of polydactyl kittens, all
but one having white feet. The neighbors had been
seeing Sasha, of all things, for years after we
left, and so we acquired another Sasha kitten
in 1989, and we named him Samson.
Tibbins
also ran away, and we never saw her again. It
was then that I began to think about keeping them
in an exercise pen, when not in the house.
Cheetah
Cheetah
was added to the program, being found in a local
feed store, dropped off by someone in the county.
Tazmania
Tazmania
was a wild thing that someone was going to put
to sleep, but since she had a bobcat length tail
and looked as though she was going to eat you
up, I brought her into the program.
Whiskerz
And
, last of all, Whiskerz was brought into the program
by Debbie Shain, who was the first person to take
me and the pixiebob seriously. Buying the Samson/Petey
son, Black Bart, and a couple of females, she
began an excellent breeding program consisting
of all original bloodlines. Debbie then found
Whiskerz at a gas station in the country., having
a short tail and a wild face, Debbie deemed her
worthy to be bred to Bart and I agreed.
And
so there were 8: Sasha, Keba,
Maggie, Jamaica, Tibbins, Cheetah,
Tazmania, and Whiskerz. These are all the cats
in the original program prior to 1994, when others
were added in.
I
was handed off a newsletter from Cass Nemzek,
who had started it in 1992, but was very discouraged
that everyone wanted to do their own thing, people
I didn't even know early on that were working
with some sort of program. So in October 1992,
I created and sent out the first issue. From then
on, mostly quarterly, newsletters went out faithfully,
though often late as it was quite a project and
more work than I ever imagined. Yet I began to
feel that if this breed, which was already named
and had a standard by 1991 would ever grow, the
word would have to get around. It started out
very small, with only a handful of subscribers,
but soon grew into a large newsletter having over
160 subscribers. People began to hear about what
I was doing and very soon I was contacted by D.D.
White and Diane Fish, both in Tennessee, in 1992,
having their own programs; Lisa Newell, that same
year; Rose Estes, and isolated American Bobtail
breeder, also in 1992; Tara Duffy, Lisa Black
and Marion Mann, all American Bobtail breeders,
in 1993; then Jerry Wolfe, a hybridizer, and also
in 1993, and Jim and Lani Rose in 1994, then Susan
Ranella in 1995. I am certain that I am missing
someone whom I cannot think of at this moment
of writing.
But
what happened when all these people began to contact
each other was that some who had begun to breed
my own pixiebob (my own variety of what I believed
to be natural bobcat hybrids), began breeding
against the standard. The first case of this was
a couple in Oregon by the name of Tim and Lynn
Nobbs, who had previously purchased a young male
from me, also somehow found a man by the name
of Jerry Wolfe, and had purchased several cats
from him. Anxious to see what they had gotten,
I was very disappointed upon driving ten hours
one way to view the cats. I knew so little about
what wild breeds were out there but I knew that
I did not want ANY of those cats in the program.
Lynn had purchased a male kitten from me several
months before and named him
(Stone Island's) Sierra Sam I Am. All total,
the Nobbs purchased several females and one or
two males, from Jerry Wolfe, and three cats from
D. D. White, yet none of them looked at all like
our cats. They were either Bengal looking, Siamese
looking, plain American Domestic looking, or something
I never saw before, Chausie cats. There were three
Chausie cats from Jerry Wolfe, two of them had
50%Jungle/50% Bengal blood and the other one,
a large female had, according to Lynn, 50%
Bobcat/50% Jungle Cat blood. I told Lynn that
I didn't want that in the program, and since I
was the registrar for the breed at the time, I
did have some say, after all. So when she asked
me to come see the kittens produced from Sam I
Am and Mama and to see the wild cats, although
I didn't care for the wild cats, I did like a
couple of the kittens, who had a distinctly different
look than the mother, as though they had more
bobcat, which I reasoned might happen, seeing
that it was on both sides of the pedigree, as
far as I knew.
So
3 kittens from that breeding were sold to existing
pixiebob breeders with the serious admonition
that the Jungle needed to be bred out and the
bobcat side strengthened. I believe that the women
who acquired those cats have done a fabulous job
in breeding out the Jungle Cat characteristics.
Little did I know that Jungle Cat would become
the most prevalent illegal outcross that I would
have to contend with in the future, with ;more
people bringing it in later. I never realized
what doors would be open because of TICA's open
door registry category that the pixiebob fell
into, when we would finally come into the coveted
NBC status. It almost ruined the breed. But more
about that later...
But
regarding the foundation of the breed, all the
cats in my colony were found cats or cats believed
to be produced from a bobcat mating with a domestic,
with the exception of the one Manx that I brought
into the program in 1987-88. I gave him to someone
when I decided I no longer wanted to use him in
the program. But his daughters, Lucy, Lioness,
and
Bobby-Jo, went on to produce, with Samson,
the type for the future pixiebobs. And the Original
Eight, the foundation bloodlines, including Sasha,
Keba,
Maggie, Jamaica, Tibbins,
Cheetah, Tazmania, and Whiskerz.
photo
© Mat
Hayward
©
Copyright Carol Ann Brewer, 2003
français